Avoid Pedestalizing Jesus
- davidwperk
- Aug 30, 2023
- 5 min read
Daily Office Devotional, Tuesday, August 29, 2023
Proper 16, the week of the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
The Rev. David W. Perkins, Th.D.
Key phrase for reflection from today’s Gospel reading:
32 `But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father.
You will find the full text of today’s Gospel reading at the end of this reflection.
Daily Office Lectionary readings (BCP, 980)
AM Psalm 5, 6; PM Psalm 10, 11
1 Kings 1:38-2:4; Acts 26:24-27:8; Mark 13:28-37
Today we celebrate the Feast of the Beheading of John the Baptist. (See below.)
David's Reflections
During a seminary class I was teaching in New Testament introduction, we were discussing verse 32 of this Gospel. I made the remark that, if Jesus spoke of a limit to his knowledge regarding the time of the end, we could infer other limits to his knowledge. A student sitting on the front row raised his hand. When I acknowledged him, his response was, "Dr. Perkins, I was taught in Sunday School that Jesus knew everything." I could only respond very gently, "I understand what you are saying, but this is not Sunday School."
Marks' Gospel portrays in rather vivid candor a genuinely human Jesus, one with an active emotional life that included anger, fear, and despair, and here, a life with limited knowledge. Others might try to set dates for the end of the age and predict the "when" of it all, but Jesus could affirm that God had kept the knowledge of that "when" to Godself, not even disclosing it to Jesus the Son.
Our worship of Jesus challenges our ability to remember that he was a flesh and blood person who was not worshipped by those who knew him until the entire story fell into place after the resurrection (Matthew 28:16-20; John 20:19-31). Our hymns, prayers, and creed speak of Jesus as the second person of the Divine Trinity. Tough to hang on to his humanity in that setting and with that language. We can put Jesus on a pedestal that separates him from our human struggles.
We find early Trinitarian thinking in Paul and in John's Gospel, the concept of God as Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. For those strictly monotheistic Jewish Christians to worship Jesus required a rather radical step forward. They had to become convinced that Jesus' life could not be explained exclusively in human terms.
Reading Mark's Gospel closely will help to keep us in touch with the raw reality of Jesus humanity. A passage like this one that reveals limits on Jesus' knowledge brings us up against that humanity. John Haughey, a Jesuit priest, in a book on the Holy Spirit cautions us about "pedastalizing" Jesus, elevating him in a manner that loses touch with his genuine humanness.
It is our challenge to worship him as a manifestation of the triune God while keeping our spiritual feet firmly in the Gospel tradition, in touch with a Jesus who could be angry, afraid, irritated, in despair--a Jesus who did not know everything. Our loneliness and feelings of being misunderstood can be abated by realizing that Jesus feels with us and knows what our experience is like. Jesus gets it. We will thrive spiritually if we can avoid putting Jesus on that pedestal.
One of G. A. Studdert-Kennedy's poems gets at it.
Tis that weakness in strength that I cry for--my flesh that I seek
In the Godhead. I seek it and find it. O man, it shall be
A face like my face that receives thee, a Man like to me
Thou shalt love and be loved by for ever; a hand like this hand
Shall open the gates of New Life to thee--see the Christ stand.*
*G. A. Studdert Kennedy, "Suffered Under Pontius Pilate," in I Believe: Sermons on the Apostles' Creed (New York: Doran, 1921), p. 21.
©David W. Perkins, 2023.
Collect of the Day, Proper 16, the thirteenth Sunday after Pentecost
Grant, O merciful God, that your Church, being gathered together in unity by your Holy Spirit, may show forth your power among all peoples, to the glory of your Name; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 232-33)
Today we celebrate the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle.
Collect of the Feast of Bartholomew the Apostle
Almighty and everlasting God, who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace truly to believe and to preach your Word: Grant that your Church may love what he believed and preach what he taught; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen.
A Collect for Peace
O God, the author of peace and lover of concord, to know you is eternal life and to serve you is perfect freedom: Defend us, your humble servants, in all assaults of our enemies; that we, surely trusting in your defense, may not fear the power of any adversaries; through the might of Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 99)
Of the Incarnation
O God, who wonderfully created, and yet more wonderfully restored, the dignity of human nature: Grant that we may share the divine life of him who humbled himself to share our humanity, your Son Jesus Christ; who lives and reigns with you, in the unity of the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever. Amen. (BCP, 251)
A Prayer for Light
Grant us, Lord, the lamp of charity which never fails, that it may burn in us and shed its light on those around us, and that by its brightness we may have a vision of that holy City, where dwells the true and never-failing Light, Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. (BCP, 110)
A Collect for Mission
Almighty and everlasting God, by whose Spirit the whole body of your faithful people is governed and sanctified: Receive our supplications and prayers which we offer before you for all members of your holy Church, that in their vocation and ministry they may truly and devoutly serve you; through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Amen. (BCP, 100)
Daily Office Gospel, Mark 13:28-37
28 `From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes
tender and puts forth its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29So
also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, at the very gates. 30Truly I tell you, this generation will not pass away until
all these things have taken place. 31Heaven and earth will pass away,
but my words will not pass away.
32 `But about that day or hour no one knows, neither the angels in
heaven, nor the Son, but only the Father. 33Beware, keep alert; for
you do not know when the time will come. 34It is like a man going on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his slaves in charge, each with his work, and commands the doorkeeper to be on the watch. 35Therefore, keep
awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, in
the evening, or at midnight, or at cockcrow, or at dawn, 36or else he
may find you asleep when he comes suddenly. 37And what I say to you I
say to all: Keep awake.'
Daily Prayer Offices in The Book of Common Prayer Morning Prayer, Rite 2, page 75, Book of Common Prayer Noonday Prayer, p. 103, Book of Common Prayer Order of Worship for Evening (Vespers), p. 109, Book of Common Prayer Evening Prayer, Rite 2, page 115, Book of Common Prayer Compline (Night Prayer), Page 127, Book of Common Prayer Daily Devotionals, page 136, Book of Common Prayer
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